Q Lazzarus

Though Q. Lazzarus only officially released one song during her lifetime, that song -- "Goodbye Horses" -- made an indelible impression on pop culture. Its appearance in one of the most unnerving scenes in Jonathan Demme's 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs showcased its gauzy synths and Lazzarus' fathomless vocals perfectly, sparking a mystique that would last for decades. As listeners wondered about her identity, she overcame rejection by labels unwilling to sign a Black woman who sang rock 'n' roll, depression, and addiction to carve out a quiet life for herself and her family. By the late 2010s, Lazzarus was ready to break her silence with a documentary and return to music, plans that were cut short by her sudden death in 2022. Arriving in 2025, Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus and its soundtrack finally told her story and revealed the depth and breadth of her artistry.

Born Diane Luckey into a family of seven children in Neptune Township, New Jersey, Lazzarus sang in the youth choir of the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church while growing up, but yearned to be a rock singer like Rod Stewart. After graduating high school, she moved to New York City in hopes of becoming a successful musician. A songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist as well as a singer, she worked as a jingle writer and backing vocalist at Sigma Sound Studios while pursuing her own music. As Q. Lazzarus, she formed the band the Resurrection with producer/songwriter William Garvey, guitarist Mark Barrett, and backup singers Gloriana Galicia and Janice Bernstein. In the mid-1980s, Q. Lazzarus and the Resurrection played clubs like the Pyramid, Limelight, and Boy Bar, while Lazzarus and Garvey recorded songs including "Goodbye Horses" and "The Candle Goes Away" in his home studio.

Among her many jobs, Lazzarus worked as a cab driver, and on a snowy night in 1985, she picked up director Jonathan Demme. When he heard her sing at the wheel in preparation for a recording session the following day, he gave her his card. The director first featured her music in 1986, when "The Candle Goes Away" appeared in the film Something Wild. Demme asked Lazzarus for more music for his next movie, and she delivered "Goodbye Horses." Though Garvey had originally written the song for himself, it was Lazzarus' vocals -- which she recorded at four in the morning after a double shift driving her taxi -- that made it transcendent. Demme first used "Goodbye Horses" in 1988's Married to the Mob, but it was its appearance in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs during an iconic scene where serial killer Buffalo Bill admires himself in the mirror that cemented its place in pop culture. That year, "Goodbye Horses" was released as a 12-inch single with the original song "White Lines" as its B-side.

Though Q. Lazzarus had hoped her connection with Demme would lead to a record deal, labels told her a Black woman singing rock was unmarketable. She relocated to London in the late '80s and revamped her sound, purveying hard rock in the vein of Aerosmith. As in New York, her career failed to gain much traction, and Lazzarus returned to the U.S. in the early '90s. She appeared in Demme's 1993 film Philadelphia performing a cover of Talking Heads' "Heaven" but the song did not appear on the soundtrack album.

By 1996, Lazzarus had dropped out of the public eye. For the rest of the decade, she struggled with substance abuse and experienced homelessness and incarceration, but a few years later she married and started a family in Staten Island. She was so successful at putting her past behind her that Q. Lazzarus' true identity remained a mystery to the public even as "Goodbye Horses"' cultural resonance grew. The song appeared in films such as Clerks II and Maniac, while artists like Kele Okereke and Chino Moreno's project ††† (Crosses) reinterpreted it. Though Garvey tracked down his earnings from the song until his death in 2009 -- even suing MGM when the animated series Family Guy used it without permission -- Lazzarus never received any royalties.

In honor of "Goodbye Horses"' 25th anniversary, Mon Amie Records released a version of the single that featured a cover of the song by Jon Hopkins and Wild Beasts' Hayden Thorpe as the B-side, and in 2018 someone falsely claiming to be the singer posted on social media, but it seemed like the Q. Lazzarus story was destined to remain a mystery. She had continued to work as a driver, however, and in 2019 she picked up another customer that changed her life. Filmmaker Eva Aridjis Fuentes -- a Lazzarus fan who often spun "Goodbye Horses" when she DJ'd in bars -- recognized the singer and got her to open up about her life and music. Their conversations kicked off a friendship as well as a documentary project that was supposed to culminate in a concert where Lazzarus would play her songs from the '80s and '90s. That changed in July 2022, when the singer broke her leg and died of sepsis in the hospital. Aridjis Fuentes completed the documentary with crowd-sourced funding, and Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus premiered in early 2025, accompanied by a soundtrack that featured unreleased songs that ranged from synth pop to rock to dance music. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi